


He's My Little Brother

by procrastinationfairy



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Gen, bby elric brothers basically
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-04
Updated: 2016-02-04
Packaged: 2018-05-18 03:03:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5895652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/procrastinationfairy/pseuds/procrastinationfairy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How Ed adjusts from being an only child to being an older brother.</p>
            </blockquote>





	He's My Little Brother

**Author's Note:**

> I didn’t know until after I started writing, but there’s an omake that fits pretty well into the theme of this fic. In fact, my headcanon says it takes place between the second and third parts. Also, I’m not an expert on child development, so don’t question the logic too much. I just needed to write some cute Elric bros.

The problem with Al is that there are a lot of problems with Al.

  
Ed never wanted a brother. He was perfectly fine being on his own with Mommy and Daddy. But of course, Mommy and Daddy didn’t ask him before deciding to let the little lump take half of his bedroom. Ed couldn’t even play in his own room anymore because he “might disturb the baby.” It wasn’t his fault the baby decided to take a nap. What kind of kid decides to take naps anyway? Now, Ed’s just shoved outside of his room then outside of the house because he’s not quiet enough for his dad to work. He gets his room back at night, but at night, Al gets to sleep in Mommy and Daddy’s bed with them. It isn’t fair, really.

He really doesn’t understand why Al gets so much attention from his parents anyway. Even his daddy seems to like Al, and Ed knows for a fact that his daddy doesn’t really like much. Ed tries hard to be good enough for his dad, and he’s only elicited a few tiny smiles from his father, so it’s not fair that all Al has to do is make a gurgly baby noise, and Daddy beams.

That is why Ed has resolved to dispose of the little lump once and for all. He figures that if Mommy and Daddy were happy before Al came along, they’ll be just as happy without him.

The plan is simple. Mommy and Daddy always talk in the kitchen while Mommy makes lunch. Ed is supposed to be playing quietly, and Al is taking a nap, but with no one watching, it should be easy to sneak in, especially since Daddy just fixed the creaky door. Ed is a genius. His plan is perfect.

“You be a good boy, okay, little man?” Mommy says gently, running her hand through Ed’s hair. Ed preens from the attention, and Mommy beams back at him. She presses a kiss to his head before standing up and turning towards the kitchen. Ed looks down at his miniature train set Daddy made for him, running the engine back and forth across the tracks, humming innocuously until he’s sure she’s gone. Then he stands up and darts down the hallway.

“Ed, I thought I told you to go potty earlier!” Mommy calls exasperated. Ed realizes too late that he’s forgotten to move quietly. Oopsie.

“But I have to go now!” he lies—no, not lies. Lying is bad. Mommy and Daddy told him that. He’s not really lying, since he does need to go, but he can’t use the potty and get rid of Al at the same time. Lesser of two evils, he decides.

Mommy sighs, and he hears Daddy make a huffing noise, almost like a laugh, except Daddy doesn’t laugh. “Just try to be quiet, dear. And wash your hands!”

Ed ascents and reaches for the knob of his bedroom door. Inside, Al is swaddled in his crib, eyes closed, binkie in mouth. He looks peaceful, almost like that baby doll Winry had until she tried to dismantle it to see its mechanics. Al’s crib is a little too tall for Ed to reach into, but that’s only because it’s really tall. It’s not like Ed’s short or anything. He pulls up a stepstool and leans over the rim of the crib, attempting to carefully extract the little lump from the crib. The movement jostles Al, and his eyes flicker open. His lips are still tightly pressed around the binkie, but he seems to be sucking a little faster now as he watches Ed with curious eyes.

Al is a little heavier than expected, and Ed grunts with the effort to pick him up. It doesn’t work very well.

“So you’re the thing that took my mommy and daddy,” Ed says disdainfully. Al, the cruel creature, doesn’t so much as flinch. His big, golden eyes remind Ed that they’re Al’s mommy and daddy too. But they were Ed’s first! “I don’t understand why they like you. You smell gross all the time, and you keep making messes. And you took my room. You just keep taking!”

Ed isn’t much older than Al, and his brother definitely isn’t small enough for him to hold for long. He feels the body slipping from his hands, back towards the bed of the crib. Ed curls his fingers into Al’s onesie and pulls him close. He finally completely removes Al from the crib and sits down on the stepstool, setting Al in his lap. The weight presses uncomfortably against his lap. Who knew babies were so heavy? It would be a difficult task to carry Al all the way outside, though it was a necessary task. Still, Ed doesn’t move. He stares down at Al, not saying a word. “You’re not really that cute, you know. You’re kind of ugly.”

Al stares a moment longer before parting his lips. The binkie falls to the ground, and Al gives a bright, one-toothed smile. Ed reels back.

“Who cares what you think? You’re just a stupid baby!” he retorts, sticking his tongue out. Al laughs congenially, squirming in Ed’s lap and reaching up to his face. He does that thing where he blows bubbles with his spit. Mommy and Daddy think it’s cute when Al does that, but not when Ed does. It’s really not fair.

The door suddenly opens again, and Mommy steps in, wiping her hands with a towel. “Ed, I didn’t hear the water running. Did you wash your hands? Did you remember to flush? And what are you doing in here in—?” She pauses and stares at Ed with a strange look on her face. For a moment, Ed thinks he’s going to get a time-out, but then she smiles softly. “Dear, come in here. You have to see this.”

Daddy peeks over Mommy’s shoulder, and he gives a smile too. It’s been a while since Daddy has smiled at Ed, and he can’t help but cherish it, even if part of it is for Al. He looks down at his brother, who’s babbling, “Ba ba ba ba baba . . . .”

Mommy steps forward, her laugh like wind chimes. “That’s right, sweetheart. That is your bubba. Can you say hi to Ed, Al?” She wraps her arm around Ed’s shoulders and gently corrects him on how to hold a baby. Eventually, she takes Al away, mumbling under her breath about not understanding how a two-year-old even pulled a one-year-old out of the crib in the first place. She places Al on her chest, and he peeks over her shoulder, making some sort of strange hand motion at Ed. Ed sticks out his tongue in response.

“Bubba,” Al babbles.

Ed doesn’t know why he’s smiling.

* * *

Ed decides to spare Al for another day. Unwittingly or not, he did help Ed get a smile from Mommy and Daddy, so that warrants a little mercy. But soon, Ed grows to regret that decision. Al still gets more attention from Mommy and Daddy, and even Winry has decided to let him tag along. It’s starting to get worse now that he’s starting to talk. Everyone coos over Al’s newest words. (Big deal. He only knows a few words, like mama, papa, alchemy, and transmutation. Easy ones. Ed knows more words, and no one’s cooing over him.)

Even worse, Al has developed a master plan of his own. Ed isn’t sure of what his ultimate goal is, but he definitely wants to bother Ed by following him around all the time. He doesn’t even say anything, just stands there like a useless lump, sucking his thumb.

“Al’s not so bad. When he’s here, we can play house,” Winry said when Ed showed up to her house with Al in tow.

Granny turned around the corner and squinted as she noticed Ed. “Oh. You’re here. Are you staying for dinner? If so, you better drink your milk, or you won’t grow big and strong like your father.”  
Ed pointedly ignores her, lifting his chin and straightening his back to prove that he is tall, even if Winry is freakishly tall. “What—you’ll be the mommy, I’ll be the daddy, and Al will be the baby?”  
Winry looks at him like he’s stupid. “No, dummy. I’ll be the mommy, Al will be the baby, and you’ll be the dog.”

“Dah!” Al attempts to repeat. He giggles and gets on his tip-toes to pat Ed on the head. Ed jerks away.

“No! I’m not playing a dumb game like house!” Ed crosses his arms and huffs. “We should play alchemy. I’ll transmute you into something like . . . a spider!”

Winry is unfazed. “Or we could play engineer, and you could lose your arm or your leg or something. I’ll fix you up real good!”

Ed knows that Winry’s dying to show off her new toy toolbox, so he agrees reluctantly, on the grounds that Al is not allowed to join them. Though Winry doesn’t dislike Al, she doesn’t care enough to fight for his presence. She leads Ed up the stairs to her room, agreeing to her parents’ warnings without a second thought. When they get upstairs, she and Ed slam the door in Al’s face.

“So how have I lost my arm?” Ed asks obediently, taking a seat on Winry’s bed. He holds up his right arm for her to examine. She pouts and puts her hands on her hips.

“No, Ed,” she whines, “you have to sit in the chair! You’re just getting a tune-up, not a whole surgery!”

(Al is whining from the other side of the door, hands slamming against the wood in an almost rhythmic knock.)

Ed sighs and slides off the bed, moving where Winry directs him. She takes out a plastic wrench and lifts his arm, pretending to tighten bolts and screws.

“You lost your arm in an alchemy accident,” she murmurs somberly, shaking her head.

Ed scoffs. “Come on, Winry. No one loses anything from alchemy. Alchemy is good. It helps people, not hurts them.”

Winry ignores him. “You have beautiful automail,” she declares proudly. “I designed it. It’s pretty. It’s pink.”

“Red,” Ed counters.

“Light red.”

“Okay. Light red.”

“Light red is pink.”

Ed is almost upset that she outsmarted him, but he’s a tiny bit grateful that she let him shut Al out, so he doesn’t say anything. “Is it all better?”

Winry nods proudly. “But now you’re lost your leg too! Oh, no! Get on the bed. I’ll have to attach a new leg.”

Before Ed can fully climb onto the mattress, Mr. Rockbell has opened the door.

“Winry, Ed,” he begins sternly, “you should let Al play with you.” Al is saccharinely oblivious. He sticks his thumb back in his mouth as he toddles back to Ed’s side.

Winry looks Al over appraisingly. “So what have you lost?” she muses.

Ed is understandably grumpy when he returns home after dinner that night. Daddy has already picked up Al and taken him to bed, and Mommy is attempting to coax Ed in that direction as well when he speaks up.

“Mommy, tell Al to stop following me around!”

Mommy smiles serenely and pushes a strand of hair out of her face. “Ed, Al just wants to play with you. Is there anything wrong with that?”

“Yes,” he says firmly, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Ed,” she sighs. “Can’t you be a little nicer to your brother?”

That only makes him madder. Why should he be nicer? Al’s the one who won’t leave him alone. It’s really not fair. He pouts until his cheeks turn red and tears flood his eyes. Mommy is still giving him that look that makes him feel bad. He doesn’t like.

The floor in the hall creaks as Daddy comes back out. Al is following behind him, one hand holding Daddy’s shirt and the other in his mouth. “Al won’t go to sleep unless Ed is there,” he sighs.  
Mommy shakes her head. “Okay, little man. That means it’s time for you to go to bed too. You have to set a good example for your brother.”

Ed’s nostrils flare. He opens his mouth to argue. Then Al pulls away from Daddy, removes his thumb from his mouth, and throws his arms around Ed. “Brother,” he mumbles.

Ed pauses. He stares blankly at Al for a moment. Then he smacks him on the head. Al falls to the ground in tears. Mommy immediately scoops him up, and Daddy is staring at Ed with a cold expression.

“Go to bed,” he says firmly. Ed, for once, doesn’t argue.

* * *

Mommy and Ed are on a tentatively good standing after Ed finally stopped pushing Al around. Ed doesn’t want to risk it. That’s why he doesn’t argue when Mommy tells him to get Al for dinner.

The only good thing to come out of Ed’s torture of Al is that Al no longer follows him blindly. Frequently, Al will go outside when Ed is inside, and vice versa. It’s okay, except that sometimes Winry will only play with Al, which really isn’t fair since Winry was his friend first. But other than that, Ed thinks that things are going pretty well. Mommy even made dessert for after dinner, and all Ed has to do to get it is drink half a glass of milk. Ed is in a good mood, so he hums happily as he opens the door.

“Al,” he screeches, “Mommy said to come—”

No other words come out. Down the road, two of the older boys in Resembool are standing near Al. Al is on the ground, crying like he always does. Ed normally doesn’t mind when Al cries, other than the fact that it was annoying, because usually Al deserved whatever he got, usually from Ed, though not anymore since Mommy didn’t like it. This is different. Seeing those boys stand near Al makes his stomach go cold and his skin burn red. Words echo slightly through the empty countryside, just enough for Ed to hear what they’re saying to his brother.

“You’re such a baby. You drop your toy and burst into tears. That’s why you can’t play with us.”

“Yeah. We don’t play with babies.”

“You’re not even just a baby. Your brother is a baby. You’re a . . . baby-baby.”

The unoriginality of their insults meant nothing when Al was bawling like that, barely attempting to wipe his tears, his cheeks red and blotchy. His stuffed rabbit is next to him in the dirt. Ed’s frustration curls in the back of his throat, and he storms down the road.

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?” he demands.

The older boys glance at Ed without much concern. “Your brother is a crybaby,” one of them says.

Ed scrunches his nose. “Yeah. He is a baby. My baby brother. Now go home. It’s dinner time.”

“You think we’re going to do what a pipsqueak like you says?” the other scoffs. Neither are all that intimidated by Ed, but Al has stopped crying, instead looking at Ed curiously.

“Yeah. Look at that. You’re so pathetic your little brother is standing up for you.” The bullies turn back on Al. The younger boy no longer reacts to their words, wide eyes blinking, unaware. They don’t take too well to being ignored, and they attempt to prod him again. “You hear me, baby?”

Ed steadies his feet. “Let’s get this straight. Al is my little brother, and I’m not going to let you bother him. I’ll fight you!” he declares, waving his hands around in frantic fighting chops. He manages to land one or two weak blows.

“Is this really happening?” the second boy asks.

The first boy looks over the hill to the sun and sighs. “I am going to go home. But not because he told me to. Because I’m a big boy, and I know when to go home on my own.”

The older boys walk away now that their fun has ended. Ed offers his hand to Al, and Al stumbles onto his feet. When he lets go of Ed’s hand, he reaches for his rabbit and sticks his other thumb in his mouth.

“Mommy said it’s time for dinner,” Ed says after a moment. Al looks at him blankly.

“Okay,” he agrees, stepping behind Ed. They start back towards their house without another word.

“Do you want my dessert tonight?” Al asks when they reach the door. Ed furrows his brow and looks over at him. “Because you saved me.”

“No. I don’t want anything.” Ed opens the door and steps inside, Al following slowly behind him.

“Then why did you save me?” he asks.

Ed shakes his head. “Because you’re my brother, Al. What other reason do I need.”

Al doesn’t seem like he believes Ed at first. He watches him with a skeptic look, but only for a moment. Then he breaks out into a smile. “So can I play with you and Winry tomorrow?”

“Don’t push it,” Ed warns, but Al is already bouncing on his feet in excitement. Ed isn’t sure he has the heart to tell him no.

“Yay!” Al skips toward the kitchen. “We can play house! Winry wants to play house. You’ll be the dog.”

Ed gives him an indignant glare. “No way. I’m not going to be the dog. Besides, do you want to be the baby? After I just fought for you?”

Al looks at him weirdly. “No way!” he protests. “I’m not going to be the baby. I’m going to be the daddy. ‘Cause I’m going to marry Winry.”

“What? No! I’m going to marry Winry!”

“Nuh-uh!”

“Boys, settle down. What did I tell you about arguing?” Mommy sighs as she helps the boys into their seats, the table already set. Ed and Al exchange looks. They don’t want to upset Mommy, but the matter wasn’t settled. Still, they could save it for another day.


End file.
